Ghosts bare their souls through dance at this park in Coconut Grove. Just call it ‘The Haunted Ballet.’

A ghostly figure appears. Striking in cream clothing and bruised by smudges of dirt, the spirit moves across the scene, twisting and turning. Trapped in time, the “ghost” vanishes back into the darkness.

Raised on “Tales of the Crypt” and loving Halloween, Miami choreographer Crystal Peattie, 33, combined her interest in eerie narratives and history to create “The Haunted Ballet,” a performance that features fictional characters drawn from history.

“I love history, I love period pieces and I love the art of storytelling,” Peattie said. “In this technology-crazed world, I crave the past and I love drawing inspiration from history.”

“The Haunted Ballet” will be performed this weekend at the Barnacle Historic State Park in Coconut Grove. For the third year in a row, audience members will wander through the five-acre property while dancers act as spirits haunting the land, telling their stories through dance.

Peattie, who attended the New World School of the Arts and danced professionally in several companies, produces, directs and choreographs “The Haunted Ballet.”

The idea came to her in the form of a haunted hotel.

While walking around San Francisco, Peattie was intrigued by a towering, Edwardian-style building, the Queen Anne, and decided to go inside. Peattie, escaping the cold and absorbed in the architecture, spoke to the concierge, who told her the Queen Ann was haunted. Inspired, she envisioned a dance performance where dancers were spirits telling their tragic tales based on a historic venue.

After moving back to Miami and pitching her idea to different sites, the Barnacle Historic State Park became the backdrop for Peattie’s creation.

“I am always looking for ways to share history and share this park with people,” said Katrina Boler, the park manager at the Barnacle. “I love all forms of art… so the idea of being able to take dance and bring it into nature and history, it is just a dream come true.”

The historic site is what remains of Coconut Grove pioneer Ralph Munroe’s land and home, which he dubbed the “Barnacle.” It is a piece of Miami stuck in time, transporting guests into an environment reminiscent of the early 20th century.

Originally, Peattie envisioned the Haunted Ballet indoors, but Munroe’s house is not big enough to host an audience. Instead, audience members are led through the property, lit only by small stage lights and volunteers holding flashlights. Between twisted mangroves and webbed Spanish moss, the audience experiences five different ghost stories, each featuring a different choreographer and dancers.

Peattie writes all the ghost stories based on the history of Coconut Grove in the late 1800s and early 1900s but adapts the stories based on the vision of the choreographers, who are each assigned a tale.

This year’s show features Hannah Baumgarten, Stephanie Fuentes, Spencer Gavin Hering, Teddy Talbot, Adele Myers and Peattie herself. The choreographers interpret the narratives and transform them with their own styles.

Adele Myers, 48, of Adele Myers and Dancers — a contemporary dance company — was given Vivian, a young female spirit who was raised in a lighthouse with her parents until they died, leaving her an orphan. Myers interpreted Vivian’s story as a story of protection and isolation, adding the idea that Vivian, haunted by her father’s memory, is constantly looking for him. Myers uses a single dancer, Sandra Poral-Andreu, re-creates the girl who is abandoned and stuck in time searching for her father.

The audience will walk through the Barnacle grounds, guided from scene to scene by ringing bells, finishing with a group performance by the bay.

The natural environment adds to the atmosphere, creating a howling wind, moonlit shadows or even lightning and thunder, depending on the night. Floating from the darkness, the dancers, clad in white vintage clothing, ensnare you into their tragic narratives until they fade away back into the shadows, haunting your memories.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 12:10 AM.